• Brazil
• England

London, Mar 23 (EFE).-

Brazil’s teenage sensation Endrick decided the friendly between with England at Wembley on Saturday with the match’s only goal in the final minutes, his first for the Canarinha.

The 17-year-old, who will join Real Madrid this summer, took advantage of a rebound in a one-on-one missed by Vinícius Jr in an unremarkable clash.

With the ’21’ on his back, Endrick, who had only two previous games with his team, reigned in a duel in which Jude Bellingham, the most acclaimed player of the night, found himself lost amid a disappointing England.

Gareth Southgate’s men lowered their own expectations with a lacklustre match, unjustifiable despite the absences of players including Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer. To make matters worse, Kyle Walker was injured after 20 minutes, but that was no excuse – Brazil was without Casemiro, Gabriel Magalhaes, Marquinhos and Gabriel Martinelli.

England was required to go one step further and have a greater degree of control, and they were not able to give it. It was Brazil, without even needing to have the ball, that was the big threat.

Vinícius began the festival of errors by confronting Pickford on a long ball from Paquetá, getting rid of Walker’s run when the Englishman was injured and, when his shot passed the Everton goalkeeper, the City full-back recovered and picked up the ball before it entered the goal.

A shot against the post by Paquetá and a mistake by Maguire that led to another erratic one-on-one by Raphinha once again tested the English.

Endrick, who came on in the 71st minute, did not need to even touch the ball until his goal.

Brazil launched a quick counterattack in search of Vinícius’ speed. The Brazilian, while the English called for an offside that the VAR would later deny, made his way up to the one-on-one and fired, despite having only Endrick to his right.

The shot was blocked by Pickford, but the rebound came easily to the Palmeiras player, who only had to nudge it, taking his first goal with the national team.

England suffered its first home friendly defeat since it lost to the Netherlands in March 2016.

Dorival Júnior’s men will play their second friendly on Tuesday against Spain at the Santiago Bernabéu, while England will face Belgium at Wembley. EFE

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